The cold would had normally cut through the skin like a knife if not for the endure elements. Even with the magic to protect me from the cold I feel the need to get some cold weather clothing just in case. Up here on the cliff we found Karvek’s body, but it was oddly missing his feet. His angry ghost attacked us when we tried to pick up the body. At least this time the battle was quick and we were able to rejoin the party.

Disturbing howling sounds began as an odd snow storm descended on the party.  This howling seemed to be some type of magically affect as members of the party suddenly became fearful of the howling that was coming from several directions. The storm grew worse and at that moment the bard suggested that this could be the work of a powerful Druid. We decided to head back to the cabin to return the body and setup camp. Seemed like a good enough plan but sometime powerful Druids have a way of making one change plans.

The spectral brothers were once again united but in the beginning things did not look good. The brothers however seemed to be stuck in some battle of wills and it appeared that there was nothing that we could do to help the now spectral brothers. I could see the strain on Takkad’s face as he feverishly tried to find a way to free Karvek from his curse. In the end I can only assume that the external influences of the creatures were somehow keeping control of Karvek even in death.

Suddenly the howling was outside the door and I felt a chilling fear begin to take hold and then fade away. Others in the party were not as fortunate as I was and were greatly affected by this howling. If not for the great presence of Avia I surely would have been overwhelmed by this eerie howling. Kane heard what seemed to be something crashing through the window upstairs and Nolan and Takkad rush to the doorway and headed up the stairs. I was still gathering my wits about me but decided to take Avia, Kane, and the Bard to the upper cabin. There were sound the creature(s) that we assume caused the howling. Avia and I moving into the room and begin intense negotiations with the creature. After a couple of rounds of negotiation, the creature took a strong liking to Avia. The creature grabbed Avia and started to head back out the window. Takkad blocked the exit path of the creature allowing for further negotiations. Rigal provided the final hit to end the conflict with this creature. Moving Avia and Myself to the next room where the second creature was trying to take Trask out the widow. I ran out the door and around to flank the creature. Trask was able to get of a breath of fire that appeared to cause discomfort to the creature but still the creature started to fly away. I got a pretty good hit on the creaturee from my side and I think Nolan and/or Avia also landed good hits causing the creature to fall to its death. Although I am not really sure if the creature was even alive!

Down below it looks as if this was the cure for Karvek curse. Silas had been holding out on the missing pages that explained how to get to Xin Shalast. The missing pages dropped to the floor and I am pretty sure that the Bard was drooling as he picked up the pages and began to read them.

This will indeed be a tenuous journey that will require a heavy use of magic. Looking over Takkad’s shoulder I copied this from what he was writing in his notes.

• Continue traveling up the Kazaron River to the second tributary, the legendary River Avah. 

• The path is not one for the faint of heart, for there are no trails or banks, and the river boasts cataracts up to three hundred feet high. The waters of the River Avah are icy cold, but never freeze.

• Follow the river up and the air will grow thin and the sky the deepest blue, until you arrive at the ice mists. At this point you will be very near the roof of the world itself, at the River Avah’s source. 

• Here you must wait and fast until a night with a full moon. And then the remaining way will open to you.

 

== Starday, Lamasha 5, 4708; Vekkers’ Camp, Kodar Mountains; afternoon ==

Trask, Avia, Sabin and I stood atop a small shelf above a mist filled chasm and stared at the small and forlorn graveyard. Huddled against the rock face was a mummified corpse: mostly dry skin stretched over a skeleton. It was a dwarf, and the only name missing from the tombstones was Karvek Vekker, brother to Silas, who had sent us up here looking for his sibling’s remains.

Karvek had curled up before a small fire pit, wrapped in his padded armor, and died. His feet were missing, and in fact they had been burned off at the ankles. But the explanation of what had done this, or any of the other strange things we had already experienced in this place, eluded us. Even the blanket of fog and mist beneath us seemed odd… unnatural.

Sabin and I stood by the corpse and I reached down to reverently touch the remains.

And up from the eerie fog drifted the translucent figure of a dwarf dressed in padded armor. His legs ended in burned stumps, and he moaned at us through his fanged teeth. Karvek’s ghost!

But unlike his brother Silas, Karvek was an angry and hostile dwarven ghost, and his red glowing eyes glared at us as he pounced upon Avia, thrashing at her with claws and biting her.

I channeled energy around us in order to drive it off, Trask burned it with a pair of Scorching Rays, and Sabin blasted it with Magic Missiles. Avia then struck at it thrice and Karvek dissolved into the mist.

We prudently decided to return back to our companions, and so when a quick scan of the ledge revealed only Karvek’s magical armor, Sabin picked up his remains and we flew back down.

Meanwhile a disturbing howling had started off in the distance, which unsettled Rigel, Sedjewick and Trask. We landed before our comrades when another howl from a different direction split the darkness and made Kane nervous.

Kane quickly pulled out a wand of Remove Fear and used it on the afflicted.

We all then assumed gaseous form and swiftly returned to the cabin, where we returned to our solid selves.

All during this time the snow storm that had unexpectedly closed in on us earlier had steadily worsened into a blizzard. We thought we could hear angry voices shouting out at us from the wind. Sedjewick thought it could be the work of a powerful druid, and given the harm the Vekkers had done to the local environment, it was easy to believe his theory.

We entered the basement of the cabin and Sabin handed Karvek’s body to me. Silas appeared in the adjacent room, and I placed the body at his feet.

Silas looked at the body of his lost brother with tenderness and forgiveness as it disintegrated to dust. A pale wisp of smoke appeared at the spot where the body had lain, and Karvek appeared, but he was still the angry and bestial Karvek.

The two ghosts stared at one another, and appeared to be locked in a battle of wills as spasms of pain flickered across their spectral faces.

I guessed that Karvek had been afflicted with a curse in life, which followed him into death. Silas was now trying to purge him of this curse, but it was not obvious who would win this confrontation.

I had a scroll of Remove Curse available, but that required you touch the person to be cured, and Karvek was incorporeal. Various ideas quickly passed through my brain, but in the end the only thing I could think to do was cast Bless in the area, with the hope that it would somehow aid Silas.

And still the sound of the storm outside intensified and grew louder. Suddenly there was a heavy thud, as if some creature had thrown itself against the door. Nolin stepped over and stood guard there, but from the upstairs Kane heard the sound of shattering glass. Something was entering through a window!

Howls rent the air from just outside the basement door and also from upstairs. Rigel was terrified and vanished as she activated her ring of invisibility, and Kane and Sedjewick likewise looked frightened.

Some large creature began beating against the door, but Nolin had slumped to the floor with a glazed look of panic in his eyes. Trask secured the door by erecting a force wall before it, and the banging soon stopped.

At the ore chute just above Silas, where the snow had been swirling in from the grey sky, a hideous elk-like face peered in with glowing red eyes. Fortunately the opening was secured by iron bars, which the creature shook furiously before disappearing back into the storm.

Avia grabbed the wand of Remove Fear from Kane’s shaking hand and used it to calm those she could see (leaving an invisible Rigel in what I imagined to be an unstable mental state).

Nolin returned to his senses and having heard Kane declare that something had broken in through a Window upstairs, took off up the stairs with me in close pursuit.

Sabin used his Dimension Door trick to bring Avia, Sedjewick and Kane upstairs before us, and so I used my new boots and flew up to join them.

Trask remained down below for reasons of his own.

There, in a room to the south, standing by a shattered window was a huge creature with an elk’s head and a humanoid body. Its eyes glowed red and it had sharp un-elk like fangs and claws. It floated above the floor, and like Karvek its legs ended in burned stumps.

The creature immediately grabbed Avia, but she managed to escape from its clutches.

Sabin raced to her defense and hacked at it with his axe, while Kane ran into the room to the north so he could assist with healing from afar, leaving plenty of room for the fighters to work.

A second creature was crawling through the window in Kane’s room when I arrived, and I used a Flamestrike to slow it down. Kane, mindful of how the other beast easily grabbed Avia, cast Freedom of Movement upon himself and confronted the thing as it towered over him.

I could hear Nolin running up the stairs, and Trask called out “Uh, what’s going on up there?” I had no idea where Rigel was, but she was invisible, and an invisible Rigel is a valuable asset in situations like these.

Sabin and Avia slashed at their beast, but it grabbed Avia in its mouth, pinning her arms.

Nolin ran past me and into the room with Kane, attacking the beast in there with a satisfying thwack. And just at that moment Trask popped into the room, right next to the creature, which promptly grabbed him.

The creature with Avia in its jaws began to climb through the Window, and so I closed off that route with a Wall of Stone. The beast screamed and dropped Avia and then turned and hit Sabin.

Rigel appeared as a flaming arrow left her bow and struck the creature in the face, slaying it.

To the north Nolin was bashing away at the other creature, and Sabin DD’d Avia and he into the northern room to assist.

The loathsome critter pulled itself and Trask through the window when Trask breathed fire on it — a useful enough ability, but the thing still held him in its mouth.

I channeled energy to heal all those around me while Kane wished Nolin good luck.

The creature began to fly up, but Avia hacked at it, followed by a mighty blow by Nolin which felled the beast.

We cautiously listened for other intruders, but hearing none we returned to the brothers, who were still locked in mental combat.

Minutes passed, but finally Karvek appeared to slump, and then he stepped back as his fangs and claws vanished. He seemed calm and at peace, and with a parting look at his brother, he quickly faded away.

Silas relaxed and smiled as he turned to us, “My new found friends, you have saved my brother. The greatest reward I can offer you is to take my knowledge of Xin Shalast with me. But I see your destiny is tied to that evil place. Read the missing pages of my journal for what you seek.”

And with that, he too faded from view while Trask sputtered, “But, but the pages are missing!”

True, the journal we had found earlier had had several pages ripped from it, but back in the room where we had found the journal was a sheaf of torn papers: the missing pages!

I quickly read through the entry, which described the daunting path to reach Karzoug’s city.

A grueling and physical trial, even without the strange and other worldly effects. It takes great luck and skill to find, and little wonder it has remain undiscovered for ten thousand years.

And indeed the way sounded difficult.

Continue traveling up the Kazaron River to the second tributary, the legendary River Avah.

The path is not one for the faint of heart, for there are no trails or banks, and the river boasts cataracts up to three hundred feet high. The waters of the River Avah are icy cold, but never freeze.

Follow the river up and the air will grow thin and the sky the deepest blue, until you arrive at the ice mists. At this point you will be very near the roof of the world itself, at the River Avah’s source.

Here you must wait and fast until a night with a full moon. And then the remaining way will open to you.

The trek sounds arduous… at least if attempted on foot. And while currently the winds howl about the cabin, once the storm passes I wonder if Wind Walk will once again provide the means of locomotion on our journey.

Endure Elements is also a must, plus Water Breathing, just in case, and it could not hurt to have a Freedom of Movement at the ready. Perhaps we should purchase enough scrolls of these types that each of us will be protected as we travel up river.

There is some speculation about fasting and the full moon, and couldn’t we just time our arrival to coincide with that celestial event, but I wonder if we must be in a particular frame of mind to see the way.

There is little will in the group to make camp here tonight as we originally intended. Instead we will teleport back to our base at the Monastic Library and prepare for the next leg — indeed possibly the last leg on this plane — of our long journey that began so long ago.

Even now as we ponder our next steps, Rigel is repeatedly asking, “Can we leave NOW!”

Time to go.

5 Lamasha, Starday

As Sabin touched the body, several of us started to (uselessly) yell No. No is a simple word, and understood by even simple people, but it is wholly ineffective at stopping something that has already happened. I’m not at all convinced that Sabin doesn’t interpret “No” to mean “please hurry and finish before I reach you”. But in this case it made no matter – the body had been disturbed even though prudence might have had us take a few more notes or observations first.

Despite the unnatural fog, this was clearly a small graveyard. Digging in the ground here must be possible only during certain small times of the year, so it didn’t surprise me that some gravestones seemed to mark very shallow cairns, as though they were a combination of digging and rock piling.

The dwarf, which we presumed to be Karvek Vekkers, seemed to have burned off his feet (or had his feet burned off after his death). He was, at this point, a solid frozen chunk. But as he was touched, a ghostly figure rose from the body. The figure seemed to have burned-off feet, significant fangs (not simply an incidental dental issue), and glowing red eyes. He seemed unhappy that we touched the body. He randomly (I assume) attacked Avia.

Now, it seems blatantly unfair. Ghosts are translucent and you can’t easily touch them; why is it they can so easily affect us on the material plane? Shouldn’t we be as hard to discomfort as they are difficult to affect to us? I mean, simply being frightening is one thing, but shouldn’t there be a little symmetry here?? Why don’t we frighten ghosts? They shouldn’t be able to do physical damage.

Ah well, coulda shoulda woulda. Avia was indeed harmed by the ghost, taking some deep scratches as the ghost emitted an unearthly moan. But Takkad channelled positive energy into the ghost, I did some scorching rays, Sabin shot some magic missiles, and Avia gave as good as she got and the ghost quickly dissipated.

Sabin picked up the remains – enchanted armor and all – and we headed back to the cabin. While the ghost had given out a, well, ghostly, moan, now we were hearing really disturbing howling off in the distance. It was distracting, and made me nervous. Rigel, Sedgewick, and eventually Kane felt that way too … but Kane pulled out a wand of Remove Fear and the feeling left me. Weird that just a howl could do that – I’ve faced down giants and bigger and never felt terribly scared.

And – was it my imagination or was the wind picking up? I couldn’t tell if it had started snowing or it was just blowing around. The wind did seem stronger, and when I mentioned it to the group, a couple of people nodded.

By the time we reached the cabin, there was no question that the weather had changed. It was definitely snowing, the wind was much stronger, and you could hear it making noises, almost like voices in the wind. Sedgewick mentioned he thought it was possible that druids could control the weather, which really was not a comforting thought.

The wind and ice made it a challenge just to enter the cabin safely, but with care we did. We took the body downstairs to where we’d seen Silas’s ghost.

As we brought the body into the room, Silas’s ghost re-manifested. There was a look of profound sadness and .. was it forgiveness? … on his face. Then surprisingly, the body disintegrated into dust and Karvik’s ghost reappeared – fangs and stumps and red eyes and all. But this time the eyes were focused on his brother. The two seemed to be having some sort of monumental staring contest …

… as the wind increased further and made the cabin shake. There was another howl right upstairs! Rigel panicked, but Kane again zapped her with his Remove Fear wand and she settled down. Nevertheless, she became invisible, which guaranteed if she bolted again we’d never know. Sabin grimly went to mirror image and Avia cast a protection from evil. While there was nothing to fight yet, everyone was on edge.

And still the staring contest went on.

This time the howling was right outside the outside door for this room and something beat on the door. Nolin and Kane totally panicked and crouched cowering on the other side of the room. Thinking that perhaps the door was going to be busted down, I put up a wall of force across that entire wall, including the door. Anything that busted it down would find an invisible barrier.

Avia grabbed the wand of Remove Fear from Kane (he was in no condition to object) and zapped him and Nolin. Upstairs was the sound of shattering glass. Either the wind had gotten very strong, or something had broken in. I was not the only one to hear this – Sabin dimension doored himself, Avia, Kane, and Sedgewick up to the hallway. I was going to go, but decided I should stay here in case something tried to break in. Nolin and Rigel (we found later) went up the stairs. Takkad flew up the center of the shaft.

Suddenly, I found myself alone down there. And still the staring contest went on.

Meanwhile, upstairs, the team had dimension doored pretty close to the object of their hunt. A creature was there in the south room with stumps for legs, like Karvek, and glowing red eyes, like Karvek, but with an elk’s head and a humanoid body. It had fangs and claws and looked decidedly out of place in the natural order of things. And when Avia moved to close with it, as she naturally tends to do, it actually tried to grapple her. She held it off but still took some damage from its claws and teeth. These were close quarters and it took some maneuvering for Avia and Sabin to fight effectively.

And still the staring contest went on. Nervously, I cast mirror image. There was no longer any beating on the door.

This time, the creature successfully grappled Avia. It was incredibly strong. Sabin beat upon it, drawing blood. Kane withdrew slightly, leaving room for the fighters but remaining close enough to be an effective healer. That’s when the second creature – yes, a second one of these monstrosities – broke the window in the kitchen and climbed through, much to Kane’s distress. Mindful of the grappling ability, he cast Freedom of Movement on himself and prepared to do what he could to defend what had been the rear of the group. Takkad, his attention diverted to the new threat, threw a Flame Strike at it, which it did not appreciate – but it also did not do us the favor of dying from it.

And still the staring contest went on. I could hear noises upstairs. “Uh, what’s going on up there?” I yelled up. Other than the whistling wind, it was now quiet down here. It sounded like my friends needed help, so I teleported up to the kitchen.

Despite Sabin and Avia beating on the first beast, it managed to grab Avia in its mouth and turned to leave. That was it? Collecting food? or victims? Not wanting it to escape, Takkad used Wall of Stone to block off its exit. It howled in anger (but howling with your mouth full of Avia obviously mutes the full effect.)

About this time I arrived in the kitchen; popping in right next to the second beast. While it may have been startled, it adapted quickly. I tossed some lightning its way, but it was a fairly weak bolt. For its part, it bit me and tried to hold me in its mouth much like the other had with Avia. Nolin smacked it hard, but it held on. I cast enlarge person on myself, to make myself harder to hold on to. And I was, but not so large it still couldn’t wrap its maw around me.

Meanwhile, the beast holding Avia was encouraged by sword and crossbow to release Avia. Then Rigel appeared from nowhere (literally) and shot a flaming arrow in its face. Boom. Dead critter. Rigel knows how to make a good entrance. Everyone hurried into the room with the other creature.

But in the meantime, it had stepped outside through the opening it had made in the cabin and was preparing to fly off. I may have been pinned, but I still had one more trick up my sleeve. Once a day I can breathe fire due to my heritage, and this was time. I turned my head to face the beast and unleashed an upchuck o’ fire upon this creature that seemed to so embrace cold. Take that. It was MOST unhappy with me. But it was not yet dead.

It was Nolin who struck it down in the nick of time — although I have been studying magic skills which might have allowed me to cast other spells to free myself even while pinned.

Takkad spread healing all around, and life was good again. I could tell my friends were impressed with my bravery at taking on such a creature just to save Kane.

I and the others hurried back downstairs. And still the staring contest went on.

It took, literally, minutes. Karvek’s face looked less angry and more tired. His fangs and claws disappeared, and he slowly faded away. Silas turned to us and thanked us. Then he said, “If you insist on going to that place, you may find the way by looking at the pages in my journal.” He started to fade and I yelled, “Hey! But somebody ripped them out!” He smiled and as he disappeared, some pages materialized and floated out of the air to the ground before us.

Takkad and I both scanned through them.

A path described as a grueling physical trail, even if it weren’t for the strange, otherworldly influences. There is a disorienting effect. It’s easy to get lost. No wonder it’s been hidden for 10,000 years.

Continue up the Kazeron to the 2nd tributary. The River Avah is a winding route not for the faint of heart. There are no banks; only walls up to 300 feet tall. The waters of Avah are freezing cold, yet never freeze, themselves. The air grows thin, and the sky is the deepest blue. When you arrive at the ice mists, you will be very near the world’s roof itself, at the River Avah’s source. Wait and fast here until a night with a full moon. Then the remaining way will be revealed to you.

Sigh. I hope there’s a fire inside. Sounds like we’re going to get pretty cold getting there.